The proliferation of telecommunications devices and telecommunications media, e.g., landline telephones, cellular telephones, personal digital assistants (PDA), Instant Messaging (IM) Systems, Short Message Service (SMS) systems, local area networks (LAN), and the like, has meant that users often possess and make use of multiple telecommunications devices. Particularly in a business environment, this has led to increased interest in consolidation or convergence of the various communications media. That is, telecommunications systems have been developed which provide a central server for supervising telephonic and electronic messaging, i.e., voice and data.
Because many users have multiple devices for accessing various functions of the system, it is important that only authorized users be given access. This is especially true in the networked environment of modern businesses, where security is of prime importance. That is, typically, the user can make use of various telecommunications devices to contact the system. To do so, the user must typically enter a User Identification and a password or personal identification number. While this may be suited for desktop PCs (personal computer) which run soft client software (SW) packages and are equipped with full keyboard and screen, it is not convenient when the user is employing a device with a relatively small keypad, such as an IP Phone or a cellular phone.
Furthermore, using a user ID and password requires the user to memorize one or more sets of character strings. As the numbers of passwords a user is required to remember increases, the user is more likely to write them down, thereby increasing the likelihood that a breach in security and unauthorized access to the system will occur.